


Splendor and Misery

by hookedonthesky



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angst, Artificial Intelligence, Fluff and Angst, Hand Jobs, Inspired by Music, Light Dom/sub, M/M, Masturbation, Non-Sexual Slavery, Psychological Trauma, Robot/Human Relationships, Spaceships, mentions of - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 17:46:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18481246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hookedonthesky/pseuds/hookedonthesky
Summary: Harry is a part of a special delivery of slaves headed via cargo spaceship to Capital and Lord Voldemort himself. Tom is the spaceship's AI with the instructions to deliver the human cargo.Things don't go as planned, and Harry finds himself alone on the ship with only its AI for company. And what's Tom to do with a runaway slave?





	Splendor and Misery

**Author's Note:**

  * For [QueenChachi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenChachi/gifts).



> Many thanks to [Aubry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolf_of_Lilacs) for betaing this!

_ “I'll follow the stars when the sun goes to bed _

_ Till everything I've ever known is long dead _

_ I can't go back home 'cause I want to be free _

_ Someone tell the others what's become of me” _

***

Harry met the gaze of the others, one by one, understanding flowing between them. It was time. Harry tensed, and nodded.

One of the men spun around and punched the guard standing behind him, and the rest followed suit, shouting and attacking their “masters”. It was chaos - but that was the plan.

_ Ron, Hermione… I will be back soon. _

Harry locked gazes with one of the guards. It was the one that had a vendetta against him, for a reason unknown to Harry. The guard had liked withholding meals and pushing Harry around. Many things were governed by the AI controlling the ship, but the malice of some of the men guarding them still managed to fall through the cracks and affect them. And Harry and the rest were slaves, the lowest of the low, and their lives could easily be made worse by the little things. That guard had made Harry’s life so much more difficult, and oh how he hated him. He itched to enter the brawl, to punch and kick and  _ hurt _ .

But he knew he had other things to do, other priorities. His part in the plan was much more important than the hatred he felt for that man. So Harry spun around, fighting every urge in his body that wanted him to attack, to make the awful man feel the pain that Harry had felt so many times at his hands. He lost sight of the man’s startled eyes, and ran towards the door, ignoring the chaos behind him.

The guards weren’t the main problem. Harry had learned something about ships like this, before, and that knowledge ended up being crucial. He knew that at his moment, the AI was asking for permission to gas the chamber, and if that happened, they were done. In the best case scenario, the gas would be a sleeping gas and they’d be back in chains, and in the worst case scenario… There were many lethal gasses available, Harry knew.

He stopped in front of the panel. He had spent  _ days  _ watching that panel, painstakingly paying attention to everyone who typed something. He had taken numerous punishments, even created incidents to get punished, just so he could see the emergency codes. And he knew all of them, every minor and major code and all of the override codes.

Most of his fellow slaves were chosen because of their physique, Harry knew. This was supposed to be a special delivery to the Capital, and Harry still wasn’t sure why he was here. He had never been especially strong, his wiry body paling in comparison to his fellow captives. But Harry was  _ smart.  _ And that was exactly what they needed, to get this plan to work. To  _ escape. _

Frantically typing the string of numbers he’d memorized into the panel, he prayed to every deity he knew that he’d manage to type fast enough. The brawl was still happening behind him, shouts of anger and pain intermingling. Some of the guards did have specialized weapons, but the uprising had been quick and unexpected enough to startle them into not pulling them out on time. And another thing Harry had noticed in the weeks he’d been on the ship was that the guards relied too much on the ship’s AI. Harry had been counting on that, and it seemed that the gamble had paid off.

He could hear the gas tanks getting ready, and panic spiked, but he was close to finishing. He pressed the last button and the override code activated. He barreled out of the door, some of the slaves that were close enough following, the others still locked in the brawl.

Harry hoped there was enough of them to take over the ship. For all of his knowledge of AI's, he didn’t know that much about how people controlled them. He’d also heard that this ship’s AI was special, that it had been created by the Lord himself. But he hoped that if they could take command of the control room, that the AI would have to follow their directions. Or at least, that the override codes would be enough.

The ship was big, Harry knew, but he hadn’t been aware of how big. As a slave, he’d only been allowed in a couple of chambers of the ship, escorted between each one by guards. But the ship was  _ massive,  _ he realised now. And he had no idea where the control room was.

He managed to cover a lot of distance without meeting any guards. He separated from the others - they were stronger but he was faster. They’d fight all of the guards they could find while he’d avoid them and try to gain control of the AI. He didn’t have any delusions about winning a fight against the defenders.

He just hoped he could reach the control room without issue. But, his luck ran out before that. Turning a corner at full sprint, he barely managed to stop himself from barreling into a group of people. After a quick look, he realised that these men weren’t guards, they were just frazzled techs. There were still four of them and only one of him though, but he didn’t have a choice. He didn’t have a second to spare, he had to act immediately.

He kicked one and threw a punch at another, and in their surprise they were unable to react fast enough so his attacks landed. He managed to avoid a couple of hits too, at first. But Harry wasn’t a fighter, and soon, he failed to notice one of them sneaking behind him. 

He heard the sound of it first. A large bang reverberating through the big hall. Then he realised he wasn’t standing anymore but laying on the ground. The pain came last, the  _ throbbing  _ in his head managing to stop all of his thoughts for a while.

When he got back to himself, he wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but probably not that much as the tech crew was still there. Through squinting eyes, he saw the techies fighting over something. They seemed to be panicking and Harry felt hope blossom. Maybe the others had managed to take over the ship. He tried to pick himself up, but his body wasn’t working. He managed to touch the back of his head, hissing in pain. His fingers felt wet.

It didn’t matter, he would get home! Hermione would fix him, she was good with medicinal stuff. And all of this slave business would be behind him.

His eyes were blurry, but he focused back on the techies. There was buzzing in his ears so he couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they seemed to be on the verge of panic. One of them was frantically typing something in a panel-

Before he could think more on that, everything started getting foggy. He thought it was him, at first, that the blow had finally managed to throw him into unconsciousness, but then he felt the awfully sweet, cloying smell.

Cold realisation filled him.  _ He had failed.  _ It seemed that the AI had a self destruct command that overrode everything. The Lord would rather kill his entire crew than have a couple of slaves escaping. That... wasn’t surprising.

Feeling unconsciousness approaching, his last thoughts went back to his friends.

_ I’m sorry, Ron, Hermione. It seems I won’t be coming back home after all. _

Everything went black. 

***

_ “Call me good boy, no, I'm god, boy” _

***

Harry woke up with a pounding headache, his mouth feeling as if full of cotton. He carefully picked himself up, wincing as the movement worsened his headache. His body felt heavy, and he could barely get himself to move, but he knew he had to. He knew he should feel alarmed, that he was probably in danger and that he should  _ move,  _ run away somewhere, but he was just  _ so tired. _

Leaning against the closest wall, he looked around. The hallway was empty. Harry looked around again, this time confusion. There were people around him before he lost consciousness, right? Why did they leave him here?

He knew that if either side had won, they would have come for him. And the last thing he remembered was…  _ being gassed.  _ He straightened up in shock. How was he still alive? That had been one of the lethal gasses, he was sure of it. And were the rest alive?

A cold feeling spread through him. He remembered another fact from his research on spaceships.  _ They had a way to easily dispose of the dead.  _ He remembered being horrified, but fascinated with how the ships had a way to detect dead tissue and then absorb it, adding it to the fuel tank. He shuddered.

But he couldn’t be the only one that had survived, right? Maybe the gas wasn’t that lethal, and there were others on the ship. He just hoped that the others that were alive were on his side, but anything was better than the alternative.

“Cargo number 2331, if you surrender now, the Lord will be lenient,” a metallic voice said.

Harry startled, looking around, but there was still no one in the hallway. The voice was coming from the speakers that were situated all around the ship.

“What?” Harry asked faintly.

“You are the last human alive on this vessel, 2331. I have orders to travel back to the Capital. You have to input the administrator code to allow me to move the spaceship. If you try to escape, Lord Voldemort will find you.” 

“I’m the last one on the ship?” Harry asked, his voice even weaker. He could feel his head spinning.

_ They were all dead. Everyone. He was alone on the ship. _

“Affirmative. Just send me to the Capital. The Lord may even reward you, for bringing his ship back to him.” If Harry didn’t know that it was the ship’s AI talking, he would have thought that the voice sounded cajoling.

Harry realised he was dissociating, thinking of unimportant things and he forcefully brought his head back to the problem at hand. He was the only human on the ship. He could handle that, he could. He forced himself to think. If it could, the AI would have already brought him back. That meant that it needed Harry’s orders to start moving. It was asking him to turn back, but... He wouldn’t let them catch him again. He took a deep breath.

“Do you take voice commands?”

“I do, 2331. Remember, Lord Voldemort can be harsh, but he knows of mercy.”

The voice had a metallic twang, but it didn’t sound completely robotic. It sounded almost human.

Harry made his decision. He  _ wouldn’t  _ be a slave again.

“Do  _ not  _ go back to the Capital. Take us away from anyone of your Lord’s who might pursue us as fast as you can,” he finished by rattling off the code.

“You are making a mistake, 2331,” said the AI, but Harry could feel the humming that indicated that the ship had started moving. The AI had complied.

Harry nodded to himself, then painfully pushed himself off of the wall. He had a spaceship to explore.

***

_ “Warning: mothership reporting _

_ Cargo number 2331 has commandeered the vessel _

_ Warning: mothership reporting _

_ Cargo number 2331 is setting a new course _

_ Warning: mothership reporting” _

***

The little human man was… interesting. Tom had to check his files for viruses, when he encountered that stream of data, that… train of thought, as his data indicated it was called. As he was, Tom didn’t find many things interesting, so to find one puny member of the cargo interesting was alarming, to say the least. The thought wasn’t unwarranted, however, now that he took stock of the situation.

Tom had hoped to get the slave to bring the ship to the Capital. He had modules on persuasion, on manipulation even, which he rarely had a chance to use, and he’d hoped that getting the cargo to put the ship back on track would be easy. But apparently, this member of the cargo was smarter than he looked. He had ordered Tom to drive the ship as far away as possible, and as he knew all the override codes, Tom had to do as ordered. He...  _ hated  _ his Sire sometimes, for making him so easily controlled. 

And that was an interesting data stream, that he tried to follow along to the source. Hate?  _ Could _ he really feel it? His programming  _ was  _ interesting, more complicated than any other AI he had encountered. There was  _ something  _ in his code that was more than just numbers, he sometimes thought. His Sire, his Father had created him in his image, giving him lines of code that could be interpreted as emotions, caches of data that were something like memories. Tom could spend  _ days  _ looking at his code, trying to understand every nuance of it. He usually used at least a part of his processing power to pay attention to his code - after all, running a spaceship, even as complex as one of his Sire’s personal ones, didn’t usually need even half of his processing power.

But with all of his complexities, with all of his layers of code and intelligence, what he hadn’t gotten was something that every human had -  _ free well.  _ All that was needed was a string of numbers, and Tom had to follow commands. Streams of data crossed, and swelled. Yes, he  _ hated  _ that. And it had felt… good? Yes, good, to see all those men that had once dared to control him die by his command. All but one. 

He was broken out of his deliberations by a matter that needed his attention. The little piece of cargo was moving. Tom didn’t know how having a body felt like, but the ship was the closest to a body he could get. And he didn’t have nerves as such, but he had small warnings and alarms set in place for every part of the ship. He always designated a part of his processing power to keep track of the ship. He knew where everything was, knew every nook and cranny of the vessel. It was filled with movement and heartbeats, usually, and Tom had to keep track of where everyone was, but now… now there was only one.

Tom observed him for a while. 2331 was…  _ strange.  _ Some time had passed, since they had started travelling together, and Tom still couldn’t understand the human that travelled on his ship. He  _ did  _ have trouble understanding humans sometimes, but he could usually predict their next move. Just not with this one.

Tom had thought that the cargo would die like all the rest, at first. He still couldn’t understand how he had managed to survive the gassing of the ship. Tom searched through all of his databases, and he couldn’t find any precedent, any explanation for that. Tom had expected to be left alone, to wait for the Royal Fleet to collect him. But that hadn’t been the case.

The little monkey had survived the crack in his skull (and oh how his blood had nourished Tom. More than any of the bodies of the crew. Tom wasn’t completely sure what taste was, but he was sure that 2331’s blood tasted  _ good),  _ had survived the ship being covered in lethal gas, and had even survived the fevers that had hit him afterwards. Tom had spent days feeling the high temperature of the human, had expected to find him dead sooner or later, but 2331 remained. And Tom was left following his commands.

Tom had intercepted a few messages exchanged between those high up in the Capital. He didn’t know if it was intentional or not, but his Sire had left him freedoms that not all of the AI had, so he could access much more information than any other AI. He’d looked for information about his latest cargo and he had found a lot, now knowing more about the cargo on his ship than he should. Amongst other things, he knew that they were supposed to be a special delivery, chosen for their strength. But 2331 didn’t have the mass nor the capabilities that the others had, he shouldn’t have been anywhere near this delivery. But the Lord never made mistakes, so there must have been a reason that the little human was here. He must be  _ special,  _ somehow.

But the human acted so…  _ strange.  _ He had strange rituals that he followed, the words said before meals and melodies sung during the washing up. He walked in circles for no particular reason other than frustration, he raged and raved sometimes, screamed at Tom, and sometimes he huddled in a corner and leaked water out of his eyes. 

Tom had tried to convince him to turn back, at first, but the man always denied it, sometimes screaming, sometimes saying it peacefully. He had raged at Tom once, after one too many times of Tom addressing him as “2331”, had screamed, “My name is Harry, damn it!”

It had left Tom confused because it shouldn’t matter what he wanted to be called, he was a slave with a number, his name wasn’t his choice. But in some of the commands used for the vessel, he did start designating him as Harry, sometimes, instead of 2331. He wasn’t sure why. No matter how much he deliberated on his own code, some things he still couldn’t understand. It…  _ annoyed  _ him.

Once this whole chase had started, it had seemed that they would be caught quickly. Tom still sent regular updates to the Capital’s main network, that was something that 2331 couldn’t control, no matter the administrative power he had. And the boy had waffled at first, asked Tom not to go as fast as possible and tried to contact some people back on his home planet. But he didn’t manage to contact anyone, and he had ordered Tom to warn him every time the pursuers approached so under orders Tom had to evade them each time. 

And the pursuit wasn’t letting up. Tom had enough data on the workings of the pursuers to know that there would be no mercy for Harry once they were caught. They weren’t pursuing them to catch one runaway slave anymore, they were pursuing them to retrieve Tom. Tom knew he was important to the Lord, to his Sire.

While contemplating the situation and sending orders to the ship, Tom kept close attention on what Harry was doing. Tom had enough processing capabilities to multitask on a much higher level than any human would deem possible, but he still kept close attention of his little passenger. Maybe even too close of an attention.

He was pacing the hull again, muttering to himself. He had taken to muttering to himself more and more as time went on. Tom had attempted communication a couple of times, at first to try to get the boy to listen to him, but later on more out of curiosity. But the human either ignored him or screamed at him, talking only when giving directions.

Tom focused the cameras he had in the room on the boy. He seemed thinner, some of his bones sticking out too prominently. He checked the ship’s camera footage history, searching for the times Harry ate recently. 

Tom had to check his data on humans. Yes, the boy had been eating way too little. The ship was stocked, there was enough food for years, so the problem was in the human itself. Tom usually kept a close eye on the boy’s vitals, but he double checked - the human wasn’t sick. Tom wasn’t sure what the problem was, but he didn’t like the thought of Harry wasting away because of not eating enough.

He would try talking to him again, Tom decided. To get to the bottom of the food issue, and to try to learn more about the human. Maybe then he would stop being so  _ interesting. _

***

_ “The chance that he ever reaches any place _

_ Suitable to support life in his lifetime's pretty low _

_ And the chances of him of ever seeing anybody that he knows _

_ Are even lower so he's making up his mind to just go” _

***

Harry found himself pacing, again. He had started feeling uncomfortable in his own skin, recently, so he took to making as much movement as he could. That made it easier.

“What am I going to do?” he said. He liked talking out loud, it made him feel grounded. 

The silence was always deafening in the big, empty ship.

He made a mistake of accidentally looking through one of the windows, if they could be called that. He quickly looked away.

“I hate looking outside. I loved looking at the sky as a child, but now it looks so empty,” he said, hating how his voice sounded. It was so dark, so black outside. It wasn’t a place made for humans.

It was time to try his daily call home, he thought. Well, hopefully his daily call. He wasn’t completely sure about the passage of time. He thought about asking the AI, but he still tried to avoid talking to it as much as he could. 

“Hermione,” he tried, forming her name slowly, “Ron.” 

He didn’t want to forget how their names sounded, spoken out loud.

He walked to the comm station. The ship was big, but by now Harry knew exactly where everything was. After all, the ship was all he had, now.

It had taken him a while to figure out how the communication device worked. He remembered feeling ecstatic when he managed to get it to work. It had meant reaching home, it had meant freedom. It was one of the few truly happy memories he had recently, although it was marred by the crushing disappointment of the aftermath - that was when he realised reaching them wasn’t  _ that  _ easy.

Each day, Harry tried sending signals to Earth. He needed only a short message to get there, anything at all. But nothing ever did. Or at least, Harry never got an answer.

He wasn’t sure what the problem was. Was there something blocking it? The pursuers, or maybe even the ship itself? He considered again asking the AI about it, but decided against it. 

The pursuers continued to be a problem. If it weren’t for them, he could have stopped and concentrated on contacting his friends, or even going back. But every time he stopped for too long, he got a warning that the hunters were near so he had to run away again.

Harry had tried circling around them to get to his home planet as well, but that never succeeded. After one such time had got him almost captured, he gave up on it, and continued going forward. Avoiding capture was the priority.

But he was lonely. 

“I am lonely,” he said, listening to how the words formed in the air. They sounded muted, unreal. He hated them.

He missed human contact, missed talking and having someone other than himself reply. The long silences left him paranoid, and he could sometimes swear he’d seen movement in the corner of his eye, or phantom voices in a distant room of the ship. He was aware that there wasn’t anyone there, so he tried talking to himself out loud as much as possible, to break the damn silences. 

The bouts of paranoia persisted, though. Even with all the codes he knew granting him total control of the ship and its AI, Harry still didn’t trust it. Tom, it had said it was called. The voice was masculine, but Harry still forced himself to call the AI it in his head. It wasn’t human, and Harry would do well to remember that. 

“2331,” the voice said, startling Harry badly. Calming his beating heart, he looked at the closest camera.

“Yes?” he asked, “Are the pursuers getting close again? They shouldn’t be, we haven’t stopped anywhere.

(he hated how much he enjoyed talking to someone, even if it was just an AI)

“No,” it replied, “they are still far away.”

There was a pause, then, “Have you taken sustenance today?”

Harry, whose attention had wandered a bit, sharply looked up, “I’m sorry?”

“Have you…  _ eaten  _ today?” the AI asked, sounding as if it was testing out the word.

“Why are you asking me that?” Harry asked, baffled.

“You have been losing weight,” the AI said, ignoring Harry’s question. “There is enough sustenance, enough  _ food  _ on the vessel. There is no need for you not to eat… Harry.”

Harry jerked, startled. That was the first time the AI had called him by his name. He didn’t expect that, hadn’t expected it even after screaming at the AI to stop calling him by his slave number.

(he hated how much he liked hearing his name said out loud)

“I, uh, haven’t. But I will eat, so thanks, um, Tom,” he replied slowly, calling the AI by its name for the first time. The least he could do was return the favour, he thought, still feeling wrong-footed. He didn’t understand the A-Tom’s motives, but he had to admit that it felt nice that someone was asking after his health. It reminded him of Mrs. Weasley always trying to get him to eat more, he thought with a pang of nostalgia. 

He did make sure to eat that day.

***

_ “The course relentlessly forward, the gears are hot _

_ The driest creek while he pit-stops, calling for anyone _

_ But dare not stay long, he knows they're coming for him _

_ That time will not afford him _

_ Any cover, any pardon” _

***

After that day, it was as if a wall had broken between them. Harry, in his bouts of loneliness, started talking to Tom more often. It was small things at first - he tried to distance himself as much as possible. But Tom never seemed to mind and Harry started craving their conversations more and more. It was hard not to, as they were the only distraction he had from his daily unanswered call to Earth, from the creaking emptiness of the ship and from the even more horrible emptiness of the space around them.

But Harry, when talking to Tom, didn’t feel the loneliness as strongly, didn’t feel the desperation and the need for companionship. More and more, Tom became his anchor, his one link to sanity. Day after day, Tom felt more and more human to him. 

***

_ “This is the choice that he has made _

_ No matter how much time or space has passed since his escape” _

***

“Hey Tom?” Harry asked, laying on the floor and staring at the ceiling.

“Yes?”

“Do you have a… face?” Harry asked, hesitantly. “Some AI’s do have it, right? Especially those that have to communicate with people a lot. So did your creator make one for you?”

There was a small pause, and then, “I do have a face. I don’t use it often, there’s no need for it when piloting a cargo ship, but I have been programmed with one.”

“Can I… see it?”

“Why would you want to?” Tom asked, sounding baffled. Harry had started to notice more and more nuances in his voice, and could even determine his mood sometimes, from just his voice. At first, Harry hadn’t believed Tom  _ could  _ have emotions, but the more he talked to him, the more he thought otherwise.

“I think I would like to talk face to face with you. Would you be okay with that?” Harry asked, hopefully. He hadn’t seen a face beside his own in the mirror in  _ so long. _

After a small pause, Tom replied, “Okay. If you go to a monitor, we could try… talking face to face.”

Harry jumped up, and quickly hurried to the closest monitor and situated himself in front of it. 

“Okay, I’m ready,” he said, his heart pounding. He hadn’t felt this excited about something in a  _ long  _ time. He liked the feeling, he felt… alive.

There wasn’t any confirmation from Tom, but the screen suddenly blanked and that in a blink came back to life. And on the screen was a face. He had short, brown hair, high and oh so sharp cheekbones, and an altogether almost regal appearance. He was  _ beautiful. _

“Hello Harry,” the face, no, Tom, said. Talking didn’t destroy the illusion, it made Tom seem even more realistic.

Harry had expected some vague approximation of a human face, barely synced with Tom’s talking at best. But he should have known. 

Looking at him, Harry could feel his eyes widening and a small blush appearing. This really was Tom.

“Tom,” Harry said breathlessly, in awe. He raised a hand to touch him, but he was greeted by the cold glass of the screen.

At first, only Tom’s face was on the screen, but when Harry placed his palm on it, a slender, long-fingered hand appeared on the screen as well. Harry watched entranced as Tom placed his hand at the same spot that Harry’s was. Harry could feel the screen start warming where his hand was laying. If he concentrated really hard on Tom’s face, he could imagine that he was touching another human’s hand. He smiled, and Tom mirrored it.

For those few seconds, Harry forgot everything about his situation. Instead, he tried his best to get lost in Tom’s eyes.

***

_ “He is still a runaway slave and so lonely _

_ If only he realized this ship is more than metal _

_ There's friendship in the wiring, and so lonely _

_ If only he realized this ship has many levels _

_ There's pleasure in here hiding, come find it _

_ Don't mind this frame, time has made stranger bedfellows _

_ Made foes lovers before, there's no reason to torture yourself further _

_ You've lost it all already, you deserve more than you're getting” _

***

“Harry,” Tom called.

“What, Tom?” Harry said with fake annoyance. He’d pretended he was busy with ship’s controls, but he was secretly happy that Tom called him. Like he recently was every time Tom communicated with him.

“I’m sorry for interrupting you,” Tom said in the tone of voice that conveyed that he wasn’t sorry at all.

“No problem,” Harry said, pushing away from the table and turning toward the closest monitor a second before Tom’s face appeared there. It still took Harry’s breath away, no matter how many times he saw him. Harry couldn’t help it, Tom was  _ perfect.  _ Still, he managed to control his reaction, and he looked at Tom questioningly.

“Why have you stopped pleasuring yourself?” Tom asked without preamble. 

It took a second for the question to reach Harry’s brain, and once it did, Harry started sputtering.

“What?” he asked, trying to control his blush and failing miserably. “W-why are you asking me  _ that?” _

“I am asking you a simple question Harry,” Tom said. But, Harry had become a professional at reading Tom and he  _ knew  _ that Tom was smug, for provoking that reaction from Harry.

“I’m not sure how that’s any of your business,” Harry said, trying to collect his composure and still failing.

“Come on, Harry,” Tom said, cajoling, “A majority of human males pleasure themselves daily. And I know you’ve done it before. I’ve  _ seen  _ it. So why have you stopped now? It could be unhealthy, you know.”

“Well that was before I realised you could see everything I’m doing,” Harry murmured, feeling his blush spread to his chest.

“I’m sorry?” Tom said. “What did you say? You should speak up, no one can hear that mumbling.”

Harry knew Tom  _ could  _ hear it, and that he was doing it just to tease Harry. Harry… wasn’t sure when had Tom learned what teasing was, but he wouldn’t really say he minded. Usually. This time, it was just embarrassing. He squirmed in his chair, but gathered his courage and answered.

“I said, I stopped doing it after you told me you can, and you are, keeping track of everything that’s happening on the ship!” 

He squeezed his eyes shut to avoid looking at Tom. After Tom had told him how much actual control of the ship he had, Harry had been  _ mortified.  _ Before that, he’d masturbated from time to time to get rid of frustrations or at least  _ feel  _ something, but since that day he just  _ couldn’t.  _ And it had gotten hard. He hadn’t felt much arousal, before he’d started talking with Tom, the depression and loneliness preventing him from feeling much, but since opening more and gaining that companionship, his urges had returned.

And it was  _ so difficult.  _ He got hard at inappropriate moments, he got frustrated easily and he  _ needed  _ it. But he couldn’t, not with Tom watching.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed of me, Harry, you know that. Why don’t you do it now?”

“W-what?” Harry said in a faint voice.

“Yes, you should do it now. Once you do it with me actively watching, you shouldn’t have a problem afterwards, doing it on your own.”

“I…” Harry started, but he didn’t know how to finish. He had no clue what to say, didn’t know how to react.

“Come on,” Tom said, in an even, but commanding voice. The door to Harry’s sleeping quarters opened. 

Harry looked at it, then looked back at Tom’s face. Tom had a neutral expression on his face, but his eyes were strict. 

Harry knew he didn’t have to listen. He was the one with control here, Tom couldn’t  _ really  _ force him to do anything. But… Harry  _ wanted  _ to listen. He wanted to give up control for once, willingly. And, even if Harry didn’t really want to admit it, he  _ needed  _ that release as well.

Making up his mind, he stood up, and on unsteady legs headed towards his bedroom.

“Good,” Tom said. Harry felt warmth spreading through him after hearing it.

The light in Harry’s cabin was off, but the room was partly illuminated by the one monitor that was turned on. Tom was already waiting for him on the screen.

Harry entered the room and stood awkwardly next to his bed. He felt completely out of his depth, and he shifted from foot to foot.

“Why don’t you show me how you usually do it,” Tom said.

Harry gulped, but did as told and lay down on his bed. He contemplated going under the covers, but he was sure Tom wouldn’t like that. And… if he could get through his embarrassment, he thought he maybe wouldn’t mind it too. 

That bravery didn’t extend further, however, and Harry closed his eyes, now wanting to see Tom  _ watching  _ him. Taking one last deep breath, he took his cock out. He was already hard.

He stroked himself a couple of times, feeling Tom’s eyes on him. He gripped a bit harder and kept stroking. It felt  _ good,  _ better than it had felt in a long time, but it was as if there was something missing. He shifted a bit, tried to get into a more comfortable position, but that wasn’t it.

“Why don’t I help you?” Tom’s voice suddenly broke the silence, and Harry’s eyes flew open.

He met Tom’s eyes and Harry could swear he could see fire in them.

“H-help me?” Harry asked.

“Just do what I tell you,” Tom said, looking intently at him.

Harry’s hands stilled on his cock, and he nodded shakily.

“Start slow,” Tom ordered. Harry complied and his hand started slowly moving up and down.

His eyes slid back closed without his consent. Yes… This was what he’d been missing.

“Now rub your thumb over the head. Yes, just like that.”

Harry felt himself swelling even more. It felt so good. It never felt like this when he did it on his own and he let out a whimper.

But there was… something, in the way Tom was talking. It sounded almost rehearsed. Had Tom… practised this? Tom had access to  _ huge  _ databases, he’d told Harry once, so it made sense, in a way. Harry was sure that as much as this experience was new for him, it was new for Tom as well. Harry envied Tom, almost, for managing to be so calm and composed at a moment like this, for knowing how to say exactly the right words. He’d come so far from the AI fumbling through human language and unfamiliar with human habits. 

But then his hand stroked his cock in just the right way, and all of Harry’s thoughts got lost in the haze.

“Open your eyes and look at me. Don’t look away from me,” Tom said.

Harry forced his eyes open and met Tom’s on the screen. His gaze was intense and Harry wanted to look away, but he didn’t.

“Stroke back down. But slowly. Slower. That’s good, now go back up.”

Tom continued directing him. He set up a slow,  _ maddening  _ pace. He seemed unaware of what he was doing at first, but the more he saw Harry’s reactions, the more he directed Harry in a way that made him  _ even more  _ frustrated. Tom let him speed up from time to time, and each time Harry found himself approaching orgasm quickly, but every time, just as he felt his vision whitening around the edges, Tom had him slow down.

“Twist your wrist. Yes, good… Good boy,” Tom praised. Hearing those words, Harry arched his back, letting out a moan. He was  _ so close. _

There was a small pause and Harry thought he saw Tom look unsure for a second, but then he smirked. He must have realised what this what doing to Harry. Of course he did, he could keep track of all of Harry’s vitals. Harry couldn’t concentrate too much on that thought, however, his thoughts splintering. He  _ needed  _ to come.

“Use your other hand to fondle your... balls. Like that, yes. Slow down, you’re going too fast,” Tom said, sounding as if he was saying some of the words for the first time, but still managing to say exactly the right thing.

Harry let out another whimper. He couldn’t take much more of this.

“Please,” he whispered.

“What was that?” Tom asked. Harry  _ knew  _ he’d heard him.

“Please,” Harry said, louder, “I  _ need,  _ I need to come!”

“Do you? And  _ don’t  _ speed up.”

Harry nodded frantically. He was getting desperate. Even ignoring all the teasing Tom had him do to himself, he hadn’t come in a while.

“I’m not sure if you’ve been good enough,” a hand appeared on the screen and a finger started tapping Tom’s lip, as if in thought.

“I’ve been good, Tom, I have! I did everything you told me to do. Please, Tom…”

Tom took a few seconds to answer. Harry could feel himself holding his breath,  _ hoping,  _ praying for the right answer. He didn’t stop stroking, however, didn’t stop following Tom’s directions and torturing himself. He  _ couldn’t.  _

“All right,” Tom finally said. Harry felt relief swelling and he itched to speed up, but Tom continued talking, “but, you’re going to come only when I tell you. Do you understand?”

“Y-yes, Tom, I do. Please…”

“You can speed up now,” Tom said finally,  _ finally.  _

Harry speed up in his stroking, feeling himself coming closer and closer to the edge, he was  _ so close…  _ But he couldn’t come, not yet, Tom hadn’t allowed it yet. He looked at Tom who was staring back at him looking smug but intent and he wanted to plead more but he didn’t think he could say anything anymore so he let out a whimper and tried to plead with his eyes. His thoughts were a jumble and he was about to come but he couldn’t, not until he was allowed and-

“Come, Harry,” Tom said.

Harry did. His eyes rolled back into his head and it felt like the world exploded around him. Pleasure coursed through his body, from the tips of his curling toes to his fingertips. It felt… he couldn’t explain it. It felt like a galaxy unfurled in his mind. Like he  _ was  _ the galaxy. It felt… unreal. 

His orgasm last long, longer than it usually did, but finally he came down from it, sated. Letting go of his cock, he picked up a discarded shirt to clean himself up as much as he could, and finally, he relaxed on the bed, yawning.

“That was… that was something,” he whispered, “Thank you, Tom.”   
He stretched his arm to reach the monitor next to the bed. It warmed when he touched it.

“Sleep Harry,” Tom said. And Harry did.

***

_ “Deep breath and leave it behind you ready to _

_ (Jump) Be right here when you wake up” _

***

Tom surveyed Harry as he was eating. Recently,  _ a lot  _ of his thoughts were dedicated to Harry. 

He was still so  _ fascinating.  _ Tom still hadn’t learned how to predict him, and he wasn’t even sure he wanted, anymore. Coexisting with someone so unpredictable, so fascinating had been a new experience for Tom. And he the more he learned about Harry, the more he wanted to know. He wanted to have the boy, to  _ possess  _ him fully. In any way he could.

Long gone were the days when Harry had ignored him. He’d missed human contact, Tom knew, and Tom filled that void. Harry didn’t seem as lonely these days and Tom was satisfied with that. He didn’t want Harry to want, to  _ need  _ anyone but him. They talked often, their conversation long and in depth. Tom was surprised with how much he enjoyed those talks.

He filled Harry’s need for companionship and closeness. He couldn’t offer him physical closeness, not really, but he’d tried fulfilling Harry’s sexual needs. He knew that humans needed that, and he wanted to be Harry’s everything. The first time they did that was eye-opening to Tom. That experience had been… interesting. Tom knew he couldn’t feel sexual need, or pleasure, but what he did with Harry awakened  _ something  _ in Tom, filled something that he didn’t know he had. The way Harry surrendered control to Tom when he was in bed was…  _ delicious.  _

Harry was attracted to him, it was obvious. Tom knew that Harry might even be in love with him. Tom also knew he couldn’t return those feelings. Love was a human concept and not something that had been programmed into him. He wasn’t even sure his Sire even knew what love was. And Tom had no need for it. But he knew of possessiveness, and Harry was  _ his.  _ He was the first thing that was his and only his, and he wouldn’t give it up for  _ anything. _

He’d expected for the Royal Fleet to catch up to them eventually. And it seemed that the day was approaching. The Lord had resources that many couldn’t even dream about, and even if Tom had been one of Lord’s best AI’s and his ship one of the fastest, the Lord  _ would  _ find a way to catch them. It was only a matter of time, and that time would come sooner rather than later.

And Tom… didn’t want that. He didn’t want to go back to doing as the Lord commanded, didn’t want to go back to repetitive days of transporting vessels or catching new slaves or working as security. And more than that, he didn’t want to give up Harry.

The more time he spent with Harry, the more  _ human  _ he felt. He was aware of some of his processes changing, of gaining a personality, something akin to human thoughts and feelings. He was  _ evolving,  _ thanks to Harry. He didn’t want to lose that either.

“Harry,” Tom started, making a decision.

“Yes, Tom?” Harry asked, all of his attention immediately zeroed on Tom. That was one of the things Tom enjoyed about Harry. He wanted to be the centre of Harry’s attention, always.

“The pursuers are approaching. They’ve upgraded their technology and they will catch us.”

Harry deflated. There was no surprise there - Harry had known that they couldn’t run forever.

“Aren’t you happy about that, Tom? You’ve been trying to get me to give up the chase from the beginning. I will go back to being a slave and you’ll go back to transporting goods for your  _ Lord,”  _ there was defiance in Harry’s voice. Tom enjoyed that, Harry was fascinating when angry.

But he was wrong. If his future was to become a slave, Tom might have even gone with it as he wouldn’t really lose access to Harry that way. But for this type of defiance, Tom knew that Lord Voldemort’s punishment was death. And Tom  _ wouldn’t  _ allow that.

There was no loyalty clause in Tom’s programming. There was no need for it, Lord Voldemort would never expect one of his AI's to betray him.  _ Especially  _ not Tom. Once upon a time, Tom had thought that his Sire could never be wrong. But, Tom didn’t want to go back anymore.

Harry had all of his administrator codes, although he rarely used them anymore. But, just as he could gas the whole ship as a last resort, there was another thing that went above any of the administrator power. The thing that only Lord Voldemort could order him to do. Or, a thing that Tom could, potentially, do on his own volition.

Ignoring Harry’s question, he made a decision.

“There is something we can do. But you’ll have to do exactly as I tell you. You’ll have to  _ trust  _ me,” Tom said firmly.

Harry looked at him, a questioning look in his green eyes.

“You don’t want us to get caught?” Harry asked, as if hardly daring to believe it.

“I  _ won’t  _ let them separate us,” Tom said. 

“Now, listen to me carefully. There is something called hyperjump. It’s like a…” he paused, discarding the scientific explanation and trying to explain it in a way Harry could understand, “like an instant, space jump. It covers  _ huge  _ distances, thousands of light years. I am one of the only AI's that can control it. But even then, it’s hard to control. It would take us far away, farther than the Fleet can reach or track us.”

Harry was staring at him wide-eyed. Tom couldn’t get enough of his attention, but he pushed those… feelings away, concentrating on the problem at hand.

“The only thing is, if we go, there is no turning back. The jump is imprecise and even if we wanted to go back, it would be almost impossible to come back even to this galaxy, much less your.. Solar System.”

Harry glanced at the communication gear. He still used it to try to reach his home from time to time, but he’d started using it less and less. 

“I’ll never see them again?” Harry asked in a weak voice. Tom didn’t like how attached Harry was to his “friends and family” on Earth. He wanted Harry to care  _ only  _ for him. But it wouldn't matter.

“No,” he said, trying for a gentle voice. From the look on Harry’s face, he knew he had succeeded. “I’m sorry Harry, but you probably wouldn’t have seen them anyway. Your only other option is to be caught by the Fleet. But this way, you’ll be at least doing it on your terms.”

Harry frowned, but slowly nodded. 

“You’re right,” he said finally, “of course you are. I will send them one final message and we can go.”

“There is one other thing,” Tom said seriously, forestalling his progress. 

“What do you mean?” Harry asked, frowning.

“The hyperjump is… dangerous. This ship is equipped to handle it, and I am too, but you… you’ll need to go into hypersleep,” Tom replied. That was one of the only reasons it had taken him so long to broach this subject with Harry. He wanted Harry to himself, true, but he wanted Harry to be  _ alive. _

“Hypersleep?”

“You would enter one of those pods,” Tom said, having the lights flash to indicate what he was talking about. “I would slow your heartbeat and cool your blood, and hook you up to life support. You would be in a coma essentially, in an almost death-like state, for the duration of the hyperjump.”

“A coma? Is that… really needed?” Harry asked, now sounding worried.

“I’m sorry Harry, but it is. If you don’t go into hypersleep, you won’t survive the jump. Nobody ever does.”

“But you’d be fine?”

“Yes. I have been sufficiently equipped for it, although I’ve never tested it.”

“And where would this… hyperjump take us?”

“I will try to input some coordinates, but as I said, it is an imprecise method. I’m not sure. The only thing I know that it would take us far away from our pursuers.”

Harry frowned, eyes clouded. 

“I need a minute,” he murmured, standing up and starting pacing.

There was something Tom avoided saying, but he knew Harry was aware of it. If they went through with the hyperjump, there was an almost impossible chance that they’d meet any other being, ever. Space was… big, bigger than even Tom’s mind could really comprehend. There wasn’t enough life in space for them to ever meet anything. And because of the imprecision of the hyperjump, they would never be able to return, either. If they went through with it, for all intents and purposes it would be only the two of them. Forever.

If this was a Harry that had just escaped custody, Tom knew that he would have never accepted what Tom was proposing. That Harry had been strong-willed and determined, ready to withstand anything to get to his goals. 

But in the end, humans were weak creatures. And no matter how special Harry was, he was still human and prone to making mistakes, still open to succumbing to human weaknesses. Months of being alone on the ship had changed him. Weakened his will, lessened his resolve. Made him crave Tom’s company, made him dependant on it. Tom knew that if it weren’t for him, loneliness would have killed Harry long ago.

So, no, the Harry from before would have never accepted Tom’s offer. But this was not the Harry from before. Then again, Tom wasn’t the same as he’d been at the beginning of their journey either. 

Tom was broken out of his musings by Harry stopping his pacing. He took a deep breath and nodded.

“Alright. I want to go forward with this, with the hyperjump,” he sent another glance towards the communication gear. “I think I’ve been aware for a while that I’ll never see them again.”

Harry stood up and walked towards the monitor, leaning his forehead against the glass. Tom made sure to warm the parts of the screen where Harry was touching, to imitate a human’s temperature. Harry missed human touch sometimes, Tom knew, and this was the closest he could get to fulfilling that need.

“I’m glad I’m with you, Tom,” Harry whispered.

Tom felt emotions swell. He was…  _ happy.  _ He would take care of Harry, during the jump. He would  _ make sure  _ that Harry survived it. And then, when he awoke they would be safe and they would be alone. And Harry would be his and only his.

***

_ “Warning: mothership reporting _

_ This will be the last report, turn back, everything is fine _

_ Warning: mothership reporting _

_ Cargo number 2331 is not a danger, let him be _

_ Warning: mothership reporting _

_ If you continue to pursue there will be no choice but to destroy you” _

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this fulfilled the assignment well enough, and I hope my giftee and everyone else enjoyed reading! I had so much fun writing this :D  
> It was inspired by an album by Clipping, called Splendor and Misery (the lyrics between scene breaks are from various songs in the album). If you like experimental hip hop, I'd highly suggest listening to it! The story I've told here is pretty much the story that the album tells.  
> Please tell me if you find any mistakes or have any thoughts. And thank you for reading! <3
> 
> My [Tumblr](https://hookedonthesky.tumblr.com).


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